“Looked at from the point of view of other organisms, humankind resembles an acute epidemic disease, whose occasional lapses into less virulent forms of behavior have never yet sufficed to permit any really stable, chronic relationship to establish itself.”
Source: Plagues and Peoples (1976), Ch.1.
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William H. McNeill 43
Canadian historian 1917–2016Related quotes

Paris 1923
As quoted by Marius de Zayas, in 'The Arts', New York, May 1923
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Context: I know that you’ve heard this before ad nauseam, but twenty years do go by at lightning speed, and that is my first pearl of wisdom. And, now, the others in this pocket pack of precepts to live by...
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"No one to be Missed" in Off Screen https://offscreen.com/view/zhang_yimou (April 1999)

360 Doctrines and Comprehensive Theories, Union of Civilizations